Beyond This Sky
by Xiao Dee
Summary: Two years have passed since Hitomi's departure from Gaea and from Van. She struggles to hang on to the hopes of getting a chance to be with him again as she deals with her life without him. Oneshot in Hitomi's POV.


Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

A/N: I just started re-watching the Vision of Escaflowne all over again after so many years. And I'm still not happy that Van and Hitomi couldn't be together in the end. Well, I suppose all the good stories end like that..

Beyond This Sky

_I see him everywhere.._

It doesn't feel like it's been two years since I left Gaea.. since I left Allen, Merle, Millerna.. and Van. I was full of hope then, full of belief that somehow I would be able to go back and see them. Yet nothing has happened. No miraculous pillar of light or any vision of Gaea had appeared to me and I am still here.

I have very little visions anymore, but my fortune-telling skills are still what they were. My tarot cards comfort me somewhat, they hold a piece of what I was known for in Gaea. Sometimes, a friend would ask me to do a reading for them, and I would, but when I tried to find out my own future, I found that there was never the card I wanted to see in my results. Never once have I drawn the card I wanted to see in relation to me. The Lovers. Does this mean I will never get the chance to know love? Because I'll never see him again?

The ever-ticking clock of time turns slowly for me, but it does move. Seconds become minutes, minutes turn into hours, and hours into days. There should be no reason for me to complain. Anyone who doesn't know me would say I'm silly because my life is good. I have my friends and track. I'm a senior who will be graduating from high school soon with a scholarship for my performances in the competitions. Yet why do I feel that I'm missing a piece of my heart?

They say that time heals everything, but for me, the elapsed time only worsens my yearning.

"Oof! Hey, watch where you're going!"

I look up, startled, having bumped into an older girl walking in the streets. She's scowling at me. I'm actually on my way to school. Today's an important day, since one of my team's biggest track meets is after school and I have a single's competition, too. I need to focus and stop thinking about the impossible. "Sorry.." I mumble, turning back to my path.

As I trudge along, the beeper on my watch suddenly sounds. "Oh, no!.." I moan, realizing I am late. The school's still a few blocks away, so I have to hurry. Breaking into a run that is effortless to me, I race through the streets.

As I near my destination, I see a flock of doves hopping and pecking at the ground in front of me. I stop to a screech before them, ready to circle around them, but managed to frighten the birds anyways. So much for my good intentions. As their started forms rise into the air, the doves send forth a whirlwind of flapping, cream-colored wings and floating feathers into my view, and an image into my mind.

_Hitomi!_

I can almost hear his yell again as I recall a distant memory. _A dark pit of crumbling earth and a shadow flying to me from above. He dives from the huge mecha to grab me as I fall into the endless chasm. I could've sworn he was an angel the first time I saw his wings._ And he still is, to me. An angel that I desperately craved to glimpse again.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I find myself at the entrance to school. Finally. The halls are growing empty as the students file into their respective classrooms, but I see a few friends that wave and smile at me as I walk in. I smile back and head to my own class, until a voice behind me catches my attention.

"Hey!"

"Huh?" I turn to find a younger boy with short brown hair and dark eyes grinning at me as he runs to where I stand. "Oh, hey!" It took me a second, but I recognize him quickly. He's one of the new members of the track-and-field team. Though a sophomore who has never ran before, the kid had shown that he had great potential and I like his easygoing attitude, even taking him under my wing and helping him improve techniques. My teammates and friends warned me that he was starting to crush on me, but I didn't think he would see me like that. How wrong I was! Why did they always have to be right?

"Late again?" He teases me, leaning in to jab me with an elbow.

I laugh, but move to keep my distance. "Haha.. I don't know what you're talking about!"

His tone then turns less joking as he suddenly moves to stand in front of me, planting his hands into his pockets nervously, "So there's a party a friend of mine is throwing over the weekend, and it's supposed to be awesome. But there's catch: we have to get a date. Y-You want to go with me?"

Oh, God.

"Umm.." I struggle to find the words, but my mind goes completely blank. I just stare down, not daring to look up.

He gets what I'm trying to say. "Hey, it's okay."

I look up, puzzled.

The expression on his face is disappointed and a bit sad, but calm. "I should have listened to the others. They said you would never agree. Since you've always said you don't date.. I just thought that maybe.. well, yeah.. Sorry."

I smile apologetically, "Yeah.."

He turns to go, "I'll see you at the meet then."

"Okay. Bye."

The final bell rings right then and there. Panicking, I take the last few steps and make it right when the last chime sounded. My teacher raises an eyebrow at my entrance, but says nothing. Blushing slightly at everyone else's stares, I find my seat next to the windows towards the back of the room.

What a morning! I certainly didn't think my teammate was going to ask me out so bluntly. Even when he knew that I don't date. It's true, though. I practically announced that two years ago after my return from Gaea and continue to be proud of it to this day. I don't think I will ever date; I have no doubt that there can be no other person who can make me feel the same way that Van does. This is the promise I made to myself, because I believe feelings can reach through space and time to the person who is my number one.

_I wonder if he's feeling this way, too._

Thankfully, the rest of the day passes safely and I walk out of the gym locker rooms into the track field after school prepared for competition without any more surprises. I don't think I can take any more shockers, especially when I have a big race. Yukari's sitting at the bleachers, which are getting filled up slowly as chattering spectators arrive. She catches my eye and waves, yelling something that I barely make out as "Good luck!". I smile and wave back, then turn to walk back to my teammates, who are gathering together into a big group with the coach. Time to get this show on the road.

The adrenaline is high and everyone's pumped to go. As our school's athletes competed with the visitor school's team, I jump up and down, cheering and clapping with the rest of the audience. I've already ran one relay with some teammates and just need to finish the day with my final race, the one I've been training so hard for: the 100 meters. My time's been 12.43 seconds, and I'm pretty sure that's the fastest out of all the competition today, so I'm relaxed and know that all I need to do is run a smooth race.

When the time comes, I'm ready. Standing next to the rest of the field preparing to go, I clear my head and focus on the task at hand. Okay, just do this. I get my hands and feet ready, along with the others, as we kneel down to starting position.

Three.. Two.. One! BAMM! The gun goes off.

I push forward with all I have. The short race doesn't feel that short. Instead, it feels like minutes instead of seconds as I pass the blurred faces in the stands as I head toward the finish line. Two seconds.. Three seconds.. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that another girl is right behind me, so I can't afford to be even a bit slow at the finish. Seven seconds.. Eight seconds..

I'm almost there! Nearing the finish, I tilt my head just a little when a flash of bright red jumps out at me from the blurry mess that's the crowd. A shockingly familiar color. What is that? My already pounding heart skips a painful beat. A foolish thought crosses my mind so fast I couldn't help it. Could it be?.. Van?

No, it couldn't be! I need to concentrate! Twelve seconds!

My legs seem to have a mind of their own as they fly across the finish line. My fists hit the ground with my knees as I struggle to catch my breathe. But as soon as I can stand up, I turn to the crowd, desperately for that red object I had spotted. Bitter disappointment flows through me when I see that it is a red balloon that a young girl is holding in the stands. I turn back to the race to see with a jolt that the judges were looking at a computer screen, trying to decide who is the winner. Turns out that my momentary distraction, which had lasted for so short a second, had allowed the girl behind me to cross the finish at the same time I did.

When they announce that my rival had won, my teammates swarm around me, complaining that the judges were being unfair. I hadn't lost that race since I had come back from Gaea. But I'm not mad, just filled with a feeling of longing I hadn't realized had come to be this painful. It's so much that after the meet has finished and I had finally convinced Yukari that I'm alright, I run back to the field where I first met Van, weighted down by my backpack.

Everyone has left by now, and the field is completely empty. I walk slowly to the same spot where I had been engulfed in the pillar of light that had given me an experience that changed my life. For these two years, I had been hopeful this spot may show me another miracle, but now that I've started mistakenly seeing things that reminds me of Van.. I think I'm getting hopeless.

Nothing is pointing at the right direction. There just isn't any signs that says I will get my wish.

I'm sitting on the ground now, staring up at the blue sky above.

_I hope my feelings will still reach you. Please, I want to see you again! I want to see you so badly!_

I grit my teeth as I allow my memories to rush through my head, remembering all the things Van and I went through in Gaea. When I first helped him slay the dragon, when he saved me from the Geckos, when we talked about our families, when he saved me time after time...

_Hitomi._

Great. And now I'm hearing his voice, too. I must have really lost it.

_Hitomi!_

What? I jump up and look frantically all around me and up at the clouds, but see nothing. I'm not crazy, I know I'm not crazy, but that really did sound like Van's voice!

_My feelings are with you, too._

A tear slides down my face as his voice echoes inside my mind. I'm not dreaming. This is real, and I can feel a safe, warm feeling radiating around me, keeping me sane.

"Van.." I reach inside my backpack and fish for my tarot cards, which I always carry out of habit. I find them, and draw out a single card, propelled by some force I couldn't explain. Another tear threatens to drop. Quickly, I wipe my cheeks with the back of a hand while holding tightly onto the cards with the other. When I finish wiping off the tears, I look upwards.

The sky never looked so blue.

And I smile, for I have gotten my answer. I have renewed hope now.

The card that I had drawn was The Lovers.

_I know one day, I'll see you again, too._


End file.
